More than half the staff at Katoomba Hospital were verbally abused by a patient, visitor or colleague in the last 12 months, a workplace study has revealed.
But the finding was one of the few low points in the final NSW Health YourSay Workplace Survey. It revealed an improved workplace culture at Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD).
Despite this, chief executive Kay Hyman said there was "more we need to do to address areas for improvement highlighted in the survey".
Referring to the finding that 56 per cent of staff at Katoomba Hospital were verbally abused in the last 12 months, she said "we do not tolerate unacceptable behaviour and harassment in the workplace and will continue to work hard to educate our staff, patients and visitors to eliminate this problem".
"Since 2013, we have redesigned staff forums to encourage feedback from frontline staff and our senior executive staff have participated in 'back to the floor' activities to strengthen communication between senior management and staff."
The overrall results of the 2015 survey show NBMLHD's 'workplace culture index', which includes Katoomba Hospital, has increased eight per cent since 2013 with an overall increase of 12 per cent since the survey began in 2011.
"The results of this year's survey demonstrate a significant improvement since 2013 and a workplace culture that continues to improve. It is encouraging to see that strategies put in place to implement cultural change throughout the organisation have made substantial improvements in a number of areas that contribute to enhancing staff engagement and workplace culture throughout the LHD," said Ms Hyman.
The survey showed:
- 81 per cent of staff agree their job makes good use of their skills and abilities
- 78 per cent of staff agree their line manager treats them with respect
- 70 per cent of staff are proud to be part of the NBMLHD workplace.
More than 2300 staff from NBMLHD completed the 2015 survey during March to May this year, a response rate of 48 per cent compared with only 22 per cent for the 2013 survey.
